Himanshu's Blog - Technology, Entrepreneurship & Business » Entrepreneurship

Have a unique experience for yourself & stop listening to Clowns : Lakshman Srikanth, Founder – LegalCrystal

Himanshu — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:56:28 +0000

In the past there have been many articles written on this blog on BarCamp i.e. BCB2, BCB3, BCB 4 where I came across lot of smart people working on some cool stuff !!! It is during BCB3 that I met Lakshman Srikanth for the first time when he was a “Microsoft Student Partner”. And now straight out of college he dived into entrepreneurship with his startup GAViSTA TECH that solves a very interesting problem. In this episode, we talk to him about his startup journey, challenges, entrepreneurship, idea & many more things….

Can you let us know about yourself and your startup GAViSTA TECH ?

Well, I am an Entrepreneur. Started working on an idea – LegalCrystal and then later on registered GAViSTA TECH as a firm. LegalCrystal is now a product of GAViSTA TECH.

What is LegalCrystal all about ?

LegalCrystal is a search tool for Advocates, Anyone can use it to find laws, judgments decided at different Courts all over India.

Every idea addresses a problem, so what problem does LegalCrystal cater to ?

LegalCrystal addresses two problems mainly-

Before we started working on LegalCrystal, we researched existing softwares and came to the conclusion that Searching relevant judgments using phrase is the main problem. We started developing our own algorithm and indexers & built a search engine which is particularly tailored to Indian Law.
User Interface messed up in other softwares. Lawyers need to undergo a Teaching Class in order to use the product.! That is just lame. So we worked on UI and “Search Features” which makes advocate’s life much simpler and easier.

So would it fair to say that “LegalCrystal wants to be the Google of Law industry” ?

Well Google is for the WEB and we are for Lawyers on the WEB! With respect to Search Engine and ease of use you might say we are as good as “Google for Indian Law”.

How do you guys ensure that the information on LegalCrystal is up to date with the changes in the law system [penal code etc.] ?

We have a dedicated team to handle updates. We get case-laws from Judgement Information System hosted by National Informatics Center(NIC). For Few we go to respective courts and apply for a copy and then Convert it to text using OCR’s. We have another team which will take care of the data entry. As every judgement is sent to a panel of advocates who write Headnotes, Case Analysis etc. and then its paraphrased , formatted and updated on the website.

GAViSTA came up with the corporate offering of your flagship product LegalCrystal, how has been the response so far ?

Response has been really good! They just FEEL comfortable using LegalCrystal Corporate. We have approached International Law firms, Companies… First thing they like about the product is the User Experience and then the Search, Features. We are expanding the reach to other states very soon.

LegalCrystal started out as a college project, off late there have been many other Indian startups born in a similar manner, do you think that times are changing where students are getting more serious about last year projects ?

It depends on the individual, but there are lot of students who are trying hard to build something unique; Commercializing their invention is what they need to look into..!

Being a student entrepreneur [i.e. right from college], how did you get about hiring the initial team members & getting them to join you ?

As I was Microsoft Student Partner Lead, I already had a network of students in every college in Bangalore. So initially my friends & I started in my room, then later on we hired few folks from MSRIT and PESIT as interns who worked on really challenging tasks. Well, joining a startup isnt a joke! because there are too many uncertainties involved. As we had a solid product with great market scope we were able to convince them!

Can you list some mistakes you made [during the initial days] that might be helpful for other entrepreneurs ?

Investing on unnecessary things is what I did & hate the most. We opted for Payment Gateway which was really a terrible decision because advocates aren’t accustomed using Debit Cards online. They were negligent to use Online Payment Gateway. You will have to take care of Pricing as your users will really take that into consideration when you have competitors. We made few mistakes with respect to pricing.

How are you currently funding GAViSTA TECH & are you looking for institutional funding ?

GAViSTA TECH is breaking even. We are self funded company; initially my uncle Badrinath (IBM) funded. Of course we are looking for institutional funding to expand the reach to other states and countries too!

I am sure lot of students who are working on final year projects would think that their idea can “Change the world”, what are some of things that they can look into their idea ?

First thing is. I was hyper initially when we started. I used to think I can sell LegalCrystal to 1000 in one month. In reality, things are different, there are too many unknown variables and emotions involved, it’s not just pure logic which will make users buy your product. Everything should merge into one single place. So I would say… There is nothing to look into your IDEA. Just get up & start up because each one is different, your idea different. So please go and have a unique experience for yourself and stop listening to Clowns.

We met at BCB 3, how much do you feel that BCB [& other unconferences] have contributed to the entrepreneurial community ?

Ghosh!! I love BarCamp Bangalore [BCB]. BCB is about freedom, You can go and talk about your product, share , get feedback.! Really like BCB. BCB is the soul and heart of Startups, It has helped in networking with founders of great products. When I was at BCB3 , Fusion Charts was a startup they had just launched their product. I was really impressed with their product, Now it’s a big company! That’s what its all about, You get to see & experience on how it will be when you have your own product! that’s what drives entrepreneurs! We need freedom to showcase our thoughts ideas, share, talk , learn! & BCB is all about that.

What according to you are top three key qualities of an entrepreneur ?

There are no top three or top five qualities! One thing what you really need is ability to sustain emotional, financial stress.

What is in pipeline for GAViSTA TECH ? apart from LegalCrystal ?

We are about to launch “AskLegalCrystal” a product which aims at normal users to ask questions related to law or if you are in need of a legal document or agreement/affidavit. Well you can just put a request on AskLegalCrystal & we have a bunch of lawyers who are existing subscribers of LegalCrystal who will respond”

Any closing comments from your side ?

People on a whole should support Entrepreneurs. I hope 80% of people who graduate start something on their own than joining big companies & boasting it on social network’s as if they are super heroes.!

Do give LegalCrystal & AskLegalCrystal a spin & share your feedback in the comments. If you have any other questions for Lakshman, please leave a comment or shoot an email to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com

People will always judge you by your work : Max Aengevelt, Co-founder – myhomepage

Himanshu — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 07:34:04 +0000

In this article, we speak to Max Aengevelt, co-founder of UK based startup myhomepage. Here Max shares his thoughts about the company, it’s core offering as well as his insights on entrepreneurship.

Can you give a small background of you and your start-up and its founders?

My name is Max Aengevelt. I am one of the two co-founders of myhomepage. I am a recent graduate of European Business School of London; the other co-founder is Massimo Agostinelli who still attends EBSL. Massimo originally had the idea for myhomepage together with his younger brother when working on his Apple Macbook. The way your windows can be displayed all at the same time is something that really inspired Massimo. Why not be able to view the web like this? Myhomepage is a personalized homepage, online password manager and bookmarking service that users can use as a start page. We are particularly proud to have an auto login capability that allows you to automatically login into your websites. From the original idea of being an interactive start page, we have really grown to be a one stop shop to start your online browsing. Myhomepage is a personalized start page.

There are lots of other competitors. What do you see are your strengths and weaknesses compared to them and what the future is like for these services? What is the USP of myhomepage over competitors?

There are several players in this market and we have analysed every single one. Therefore we can say with confidence we have the most complete product. To begin with we are not a widget based news aggregator, nor are we a pure bookmarking website. We offer a lot of different features that make it safer and easier for the user to navigate the web. 70% of websites require a username and password to fully operate the site, myhomepage is place that lets you organize these websites and automatically access them through our auto login feature. I personally would not be able to use the web without the clarity myhomepage gives me. One of our main competitors or alternatives is browsers. Browsers also allow you to store and organise bookmarks as well as passwords which are two of our main features. However, unlike browsers we are online. This means, wherever you are you will be able access all your favourite bookmarks and logins at any time and from any computer using any browser. Also browsers are not a safe place to store your username and password, someone could steal or hack your computer. And unlike other password managers, you do not have to download anything or pay for it. We use a patent pending technology to safely encrypt your account and passwords.

Secondly, as mentioned before, we are well aware of our competitors and no other service offers all the features we offer in one place. There are competitors offering one or two of our features but no one else offers them all in one place. Furthermore, it is designed with a simple, clean layout. We have a lot of great features which make using the website fun – we use thumbnails to display bookmarks, have a unique auto login feature, have drag and drop functionality, bookmarks are organized by tagging, you can import bookmarks and you can easily email bookmarks to your friends. Adding up all these features, myhomepage is a product that stands out from the crowd! Furthermore, ‘myhomepage’ is a great name and brand and one that is you can easily relate to and most importantly trust.

There are 3 people who commonly fund start-ups 3F’s Friends, Family or Fools; so who gave you the first set of investment myhomepage?

Haha sounds familiar…. Our families, in particular our mothers, who believed in the project from the start but we have also invested a lot of our own money and the last twelve months of our life into this venture. Currently we are in the market to get the next stage of investment from institutional investors.

What is your revenue model?

We have a few different revenue model options. Firstly, there is advertising. We can offer highly targeted ads as we naturally have a lot of statistics about user habits when using the Internet. Advertisers will be able to accurately target users interested in very specific markets. And as the ads are target accurately, users are more likely to click them and so we will have higher CTR and will be able to charge a higher CPC. We are also engaged with an application developer to create a smart phone/device application for myhomepage.

Where can people find more information about myhomepage?

Please visit our website for more information on us, our security information, or send us an email. You can also join our Facebook fan page, follow us on twitter, or check out our profile on CrunchBase.

Both of you attended European Business School; could you please tell us about it and what you studied?

ESBL is a prestigious business school in London that has an international student body, which is great as it allows you to interact and become friends with people from all over the world. I have received my BA in Business Management with a Finance major; Massimo is still enrolled in the same course.

What are the major challenges that young entrepreneurs face?

It’s great being an entrepreneur. This is what we always dreamed of. Obviously start ups are very difficult and involves many challenges which often require us to multitask. It’s important to keep motivated and always push for the best every single day. Being young makes no difference, people will always judge you by your work.

If you have any questions for Max, please send them to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com & we would include the same in our article.

Book Review – Entrepreneur Journeys : Bootstrapping, weapon of Mass Reconstruction

Himanshu — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:20:00 +0000

Earlier on ThoughtsPrevail; we reviewed Sramana Mitra‘s book Entrepreneur Journeys-Volume I here & here, in this article we review her book Entrepreneur Journey’s [BootStrapping : Weapon of Mass Reconstruction]

Like her previous book, Sramana follows the same format where she interviews successful entrepreneurs however this time around they are the ones who have successfully bootstrapped their business. The interviews provide vital answers as to whether a startup really needs VC funding or it can be entirely bootstrapped. It also gives some insights into why mentorship is so important for any startup.

Notably the book includes interviews of the so called sultans of blogosphere-Om Malik of GigaOm and Rafat Ali of paidContent [which was acquired by Guardian for $30M].

Though there are many inspiring interviews, the only downside of the book was that the focus was mainly on US based startups but this does not take away the core message delivered through the book i.e “How to bootstrap a business”

Some of the useful tips from the bootstrappers interviewed in the book are given below -

Greg Gianforte, RightNow

Find an entrepreneurial mentor, and if you are going to bootstrap, find a mentor who has already bootstrapped a business
Bootstrapping is a discovery process. Rather than building an ark, waiting for animals to come, and hoping the tide rises-you take an incremental approach and discover a legitimate, real world value proposition.

Cree Lawson, Travel Ad Network

Nothing is more expensive for a business on a personal and financial level than client and customer churn.
The right relationship with an experienced operator is more important than the valuation you can achieve in fund raising.

Beatrice Tarka, Mobissimo

You can have the best technology and the best product on the market, but without good team chemistry your business will fail.

Om Malik, GigaOM

I think that a lot of people do things for money, and it’s the stupidest thing we can do for ourselves. Everybody thinks money is the answer, but it is not. What made me tick was writing; that’s what I was born to do. How can you ignore your natural animal instinct ?
A lot of people make the mistake that when they outsource, they outsource it all. The reality is you outsource the physical function of it, but not the mental piece.

Rafat Ali, paidContent

The thing about email newsletters, which is still true today, is that you have a viral presence in somebody’s inbox day in and day out.
I learnt that when you start a company, you need to spend money on keeping the books in order.

J.R. Johnson, VirtualTourist

We always knew that in the worst-case scenario, we could go into the cockroach mode and just hide out in the dark for a while and let the content grow.

Guillaume Cohen, Veodia

One of the biggest experiences for me, as a first-time CEO, is bringing in smart people who are much better than I am in their fields, then staying out of their way.

Wayne Krause, Hydro Green Energy

I remember seeing National Geographic drawing of a big ocean device to create energy, and I kept thinking that there had to be a way to make energy out of those waves. That’s how it started.

Scott Wainner, SysOpt & ResellerRatings

For me, being an entrepreneur is so much trial and error that I would rather make the mistakes in the lower dollar range than at the Super Bowl advertising level.

Ramu Yalamanchi, Hi5

No matter how many businesses you start, it just takes one successful business to make up for all the other attempts.
If you are going to build a service and it has a good chance of becoming very popular, make sure you address the scale needs up first.

Murli Thirumale, Ocarina

Everybody who tried our product wanted it. All we had to do was get into the taste test.
A lot of startups are based on hypothesis- they build something and start interacting with customers, but they never verify it. What they are doing is rationalizing the hypothesis rather than evaluating & verifying it.

Manoj Saxena, Webify

If you raise a lot of money, you are leveraging the hell out of yourself. And you probably have a lot of people wanting to grab the steering wheel if things don’t go right.
A Lead User is typically a person who has such a strong need or pain that they go out and build something on their own to solve the pain.

Lars Dalgaard, SuccessFactors

I didn’t care about the title; I cared about the learning.

In few words, it is an interesting as well as inspiring read for Entrepreneurs who are bootstrapping or wannabe entrepreneurs thinking of bootstrapping.Let’s wait to see what Sramana has to offer in her Volume-III !!!

Why should you work for a startup

Himanshu — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:09:00 +0000

As an Engineer, all of us wanted to work in companies like Infosys, Wipro, Satyam Mahindra Satyam & many other so called Indian MNCs. However, times seem to have changed now due to accessibility to lot of resources available on the internet & some credit also goes to the change in our mindset. Startups have really become a buzz word & guys don’t feel shy that they are now working in a startup !!! In fact, many of them even prefer working in startups than working in MNCs.

As per the recent update in my LinkedIn profile, last 2 years provided me with the best learning(s) in my professional career and it was entirely in startups. In fact, I was thinking of an appropriate title for this article and one which struck me was “Why should you AT LEAST ONCE work in a startup“. Each one of us have a reason to do or not to do a thing, so if you are interested to work in startup than the following reasons may help you to decide “Whether you should or should not” ….

Entrepreneurial litmus test
If you aspire to be an entrepreneur, it is very important to work in an early stage startup or should we say “To pass the litmus test“. There are MORE ups & downs in a startup which not only teach you to deal with difficulties but also help you understand yourself better. As for me, startups have taught me to survive on less money & also to understand “Whether I can myself startup sometime?”. Working in a startup becomes the very first step to look within yourself & say “Can I do it?”…

Relationships Matter
In a startup, it becomes difficult to isolate from the startup community which in turn teaches the Art of Networking. This not only helps to build the startup’s brand through WOM but also to network with fellow startup guys. Not to forget relationships inside the office; it is very important to keep best of the relations with every person inside the startup as well since, you cannot stay isolated neither inside nor outside your startup. It is a small world and you never know when you would again work with your colleague

Learn to save[for present & future]
There is a famous one liner “It’s all about the money honey“. Every person in a startup always hopes for the best but is prepared for the worst.In other words, once you enter the startup arena, the first to do IMHO is to become a bit stingy and keep check on your finances. Hence,a startup would also turn out to be a finance institution !!!

Contribution
If you are a person who is interested in multiple things [being an expert in one], your startup may become “fuel to your interest/passion”. Since the barriers are low in a small company, it becomes easy to contribute in multiple areas & prove your passion eg. Engineer with an inclination to marketing can help market the service/product which might be impossible to do in an established company.

ONLY results matter
Big corporations focus on the process along with the results however, startups look out only for results. Hence, if you are a fresher looking out for some interesting work, startup would give you the push-up and later on MNC would give the necessary branding. Startups are less hierarchical and more result focused.

Bootstrapping
As mentioned before, startups help to bring out your other qualities some of which you might have never exploited !!! This helps you master the Art of Bootstrapping. This would become an important step not only when you startup but also when you are in a crisis situation[like the current tumbling economy].May be sometimes, it becomes necessary to be “Jack of ALL trades than be a master of NONE”

If you have some more reasons to share, please leave them in the comments and it would be added to the article.

Non business books for Entrepreneurs

Himanshu — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:59:00 +0000

In the past, there have lot of articles mentioning useful books on Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Management etc. Today we have a look at some of the non-business books that would be useful for Entrepreneurs [or we can say for any working professional], let’s have a look at them.

[Hat tip : Amber Johnson of Online Universities]

Communication

The Elements of Style: Write and communicate clearly with the help of this book.

The Definitive Book of Body Language: Read this book to learn the essentials of reading and communicating with body language.

Crucial Conversations: This book offers skills that can improve your communication and relationships, as well as prevent arguments and misunderstandings.

You Can Read Anyone: Read this book to find out how to pick up underlying clues from others.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Learn the essentials of punctuation in this humorous book.

Messages: Messages offers a book of communication skills.

Line by Line: This book offers an effective guide to editing your own writing.

Difficult Conversations: Thrive in difficult conversations with the help of this book.

The Lost Art of the Great Speech: Read this book to learn how to write and deliver excellent speeches.

The Art of Talking So That People Will Listen: This book will teach you how to get through to anyone you’re speaking with.

Presentation Zen: In this book, you’ll learn how to make your presentations simple and perfect.

On Speaking Well: Peggy Noonan shares advice and ideas for writing and giving effective speeches.

101 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills Instantly: Use this book to find methods for communicating more effectively.

Lincoln At Gettysburg: Take a lesson from Lincoln and learn how to improve your communication skills to demand attention.

Grammatically Correct: In this book, you’ll find the definitive guide to correct grammar.

It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It: Follow this book’s advice for communication, presentations, speeches, and more.

Getting to Yes: Read this book to improve your negotiation skills.

Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: Learn the secrets of effective speakers in history from this book.

The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking: Dale Carnegie shares his knowledge and advice for effective speaking in this book.

Choosing Powerful Words: Develop your eloquence and public speaking with the help of this book.

100 Ways to Improve Your Writing: Use this reference to learn how to become a better writer and communicator.

Great Speeches for Better Speaking: In this book and CD, you’ll be able to listen to and learn from important speeches throughout history.

Guerilla Negotiating: Learn unconventional strategies for getting what you want from this book.

The World’s Great Speeches: Learn communication skills from some of the greatest speeches in the world, found in this book.

Emotional Intelligence: Learn about emotional intelligence from this book and find out why it’s so important.

Leadership

Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World: Get a unique view of leadership, groups, and change in this book.

Developing the Leader Within You: This book offers a useful look at becoming a great leader.

If It Is To Be It’s Up To Me: This book will help you develop the attitude of a true leader.

Primal Leadership: Read this book to learn how you can use emotional intelligence to be a better leader.

The Servant: The Servant offers a look into what’s most important in leadership.

Success

Yes Man: This book will show you how just saying yes more can change your life.

The Fountainhead: Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead offers themes including individual strength and the tug between good and evil.

The Tipping Point: This book explains how ideas, messages, and behaviors can spread like viruses. The Greatest Secret in the World: Og Mandino shares an explanation of his Ten Greatest Scrolls of Success in this book.

The Go Getter: Read this book to learn how to be a go-getter.

Talent is Overrated: Read this book to find out why talent isn’t the most important factor to success.

Our Iceberg is Melting: Read this book to learn how to change and succeed no matter what conditions you’re in.

Think and Grow Rich: Apply the techniques revealed in this book to find lasting success.

The Magic of Thinking Big: Use the methods in this book to think big and conquer your achievements.

The Greatest Miracle in the World: Read Og Mandino’s story to learn secrets of happiness and success.

The 80/20 Principle: The 80/20 Principle shares the secret to being successful with less.

Outliers: Malcolm Gladwell explains why some people succeed, and some fall short.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: In this classic, you’ll learn how to improve your personal effectiveness.

The Lorax: This book by Dr. Seuss shares the dangers of exploiting the Earth.

The Power of Positive Thinking: Use this book to put the power of faith in action.

The Art of Looking Sideways: Learn to deconstruct your preconceived notions with the help of this book.

The Magic of Thinking Big: Use this book’s methods to get the most out of your life and your new venture.

The Secret: Although criticized as unrealistic and irresponsible, this book’s message is a useful one — think positively to improve your life and work.

Atlas Shrugged: Understand the philosophy of objective reasoning through this book.

Influencer: This book will teach you how to change just about anything through influence.

Personal

The Art of Possibility: This self improvement book will help you change your outlook on life and open yourself up to possibilities.

The Da Vinci Method: Use The Da Vinci Method’s advice to learn how to break out of what hinders your greatness.

Living an Extraordinary Life: Read this book to find out how you can live an extraordinary life.

The Art of Happiness: Dalai Lama offers his handbook for living happily.

The Four Agreements: In this book, you will learn about personal freedom.

Nudge: Nudge will help you make better decisions throughout your life.

Transitions: Endure and make the most of changes in life by reading this book.

Awake in the Wild: Use nature as a path to self discovery with the help of this book.

The Alchemist: The Alchemist tells an everyman story of the struggle to pursue your life’s dreams.

Relationships & Personality

How to Win Friends and Influence People: Improve your influential skills using the lessons in this classic book.

Personality Plus: With this book, you’ll gain a better understanding of yourself, and other people as well.

People Skills: Find out how to assert yourself and deal well with others in this book.

Goodbye to Shy: Become more outgoing with the help of these “shybusters.”

Groundswell: This book explains how to be successful among social technologies.

The Power of Charm: Read this book, and you’ll learn how to use charm to win people over.

Extraordinary Relationships: This book offers a new way of thinking about human interactions.

How to Talk to Anyone: Learn these tricks to find success in your relationships.

Social Media is a Cocktail Party: This book will help you learn how to make the most of social media.

Crucial Confrontations: With the help of this book, you’ll learn how to make it through difficult conversations and confrontations.

The Developing Mind: This book explains how relationships work to shape who we are.

How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less: Read this book to learn how to instantly win people over.

What to Say When You Talk to Yourself: Check out this book, and you’ll see how you can become what you tell yourself.

Psychology

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion: This book explains the psychological foundations of influencing people.

The Psychology of Winning: In The Psychology of Winning, you’ll get a look at the qualities of winners.

Predictibly Irrational: Read this book, and you’ll get a better understanding of what is perceived to be irrational behavior.

How We Decide: This book will help you understand how you and other people make decisions.

The Paradox of Choice: Read this book to find out why fewer choices are better.

The Drunkard’s Walk: In this book, you will learn how randomness influences our lives more than you think.

On Being Certain: This book will help you learn to effectively question yourself.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Psychology: This book offers an essential look at psychology.

Psychology of Achievement: In this book, you’ll learn how to develop the mindset of a top achiever.

Covert Persuasion: This book shares psychological tactics and tricks for winning at persuasion.

Psychology of Success: Read this book to learn about the psychology behind succeeding.

The Psychology of Judgment and Decisions Making: Learn more about the thought behind judgment and decision making from this book.

Animal Spirits: Animal Spirits explains how human psychology drives the economy.

The Psychology of Persuasion: This book will help you learn how to use psychology in order to persuade others to your way of thinking.

Finance

The Millionaire Next Door: This book will teach you the rules to becoming a millionaire while living a simple life.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad: In Rich Dad, Poor Dad, you’ll learn what the rich teach their children about money.

Total Money Makeover: Read this book, and you’ll find out why it’s so important to pay cash and stay out of debt.

The Millionaire Mind: Read this book to make your mindset more like a millionaire’s.

Freakonomics: Find out how to illuminate financial mysteries and more just by asking the right questions.

Small is Beautiful: This economics book keeps people in mind.

The Richest Man in Babylon: This classic book has a lot to teach about investment and finances.

Think and Grow Rich: By reading this book, you’ll learn how to thrive even in economic downturns.

Strategy & Innovation

The Now Habit: Read The Now Habit to create a program that will help you overcome procrastination.

Eat That Frog!: In this book, you’ll find 21 effective methods for conquering procrastination.

Blink: Malcolm Gladwell’s book will teach you to rely on your adaptive unconscious.

I Dare You!: Read I Dare You! to become one of the daring few on the way to somewhere.

The Art of War: Read this book, and you’ll learn how to gain advantage of your opponents in any situation.

The Prince: Study this book to broaden your political and strategic philosophies.

The Medici Effect: Read this book, and you’ll find out how innovate by approaching situations differently.

[Reproduced from Online Universities Blog]. I guess it is time for me to pick up some of these books from the nearby bookstore

Tribes, we need them ….

Himanshu — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:49:00 +0000

All of us know about the famous saying “Birds of a feather flock together“, needless to say that all of us are always in search of like minded people i.e. the guys with whom you can share your passion & interest;be it anything- Technology, Movies, Travel etc.The search for the very first like-minded person becomes very critical since (s)he would be backbone of the entire group a.k.a Tribe.

My current read is a short interesting book- Tribes by Seth Godin.As explained above “Tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader and connected to an idea“.A group needs two things to be a tribe – shared interest and way to communicate.

The book has some great case studies on the so called Tribal Movement and focuses on “How either a Single person/Tribe or a small group of Tribes or a large group of Tribes can make a significant difference.

Every Tribe has a leader but a Tribe needs followers too.But a follower can be a person who is eagerly following[eg. every blogger would be passionately following Techcrunch since,it has changed the complete blogosphere] or is compelled to follow[eg. A person who has less interest in technology is forced to follow Techcrunch ], a single word compel makes a HUGE difference.The book had a short paragraph[quoted below] on how a single word- Compel can create a difference in an organization.

Any organization needs people who aren’t just willing to follow, but are eager to follow.It’s a mistake to believe that the best tribe recruits are the blind sheep.Folks who do nothing but mindlessly follow instructions let you down in two ways -

First, they are not going to do the local leadership required when the tribe members interact.They are going to be so busy following the playbook that they will hesitate about engaging in the interactions that make a tight tribe such a vibrant organization.People don’t engage merely to remind one another of the status quo.Instead, they eagerly engage when they want something to improve.This micro-leadership is essential to the health of your organization.

Second, they are not going to do a very good job of recruiting new members to your tribe.That’s because evangelism requires leadership. Leading someone towards giving up one worldview and embracing yours isn’t easy and it is not always comfortable, consider any vibrant group-political activities, nonprofit volunteers or brand fanatics.In each case, it’s the microleaders in the trenches and their enthusiastic followers who make the difference, not the leader who is ostensibly running the group.

Tribes are meant to make a difference but the Tribe that really MAKES a difference is the one each one of us need/create !!! To summarize, the title of the book says it all “Tribes – We need YOU to lead US“

Either you start off or sit on the shore – Tarun Bhalla,CEO SimplyLearnt

Himanshu — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:39:00 +0000

In this article, we speak to Tarun Bhalla,Founder & CEO of SimplyLearnt.SimplyLearnt is Learning marketplace having excellent salient features…so, let’s start-off with our Q&A

In brief, tell us something about SimplyLearnt
SimplyLearnt is a Learning Marketplace where students can buy courses, tests, test Series and even lectures from any of their favorite educational institutes or educators. You can think of SimplyLearnt as the Makemytrip of Educational world – with higher margins and a bigger market.

With so many services already into e-learning, what was your driving force to start SimplyLearnt ?
e-Learning is a very broad term and is used very casually. The only e-Learning that has been happening has been in the world of Corporate training. There’s no significant usage of e-Learning in the world of school/college education. So, on the whole there’s no credible supply happening as far as school/college education is concerned whereas if you look at the demand, its astronomical may be not realized but still astronomical.

So, what we see is that there’s a huge potential in e-Learning in the School/College education market that can be captured via a product like SimplyLearnt with its unique proposition and business model.

Is SimplyLearnt only restricted to the courses that are available online ?
Currently, yes! We are offering our partner’s courses only online either on our platform or on their website. However, very soon we will be launching a desktop version where students can consume these courses/tests offline as well.

If SimplyLearnt is also powered by UGC, how does a person become a tutor with SimplyLearnt ?
It’s fairly simple, the user can register here as a normal member. Further, the user needs to register as a tutor by populating their expertise information and their hourly rates as well.

How do you manage the revenue sharing with the tutor who provides premium service ?
First, let me clarify we work both with individual tutors/teachers and educational institutes. In the former case, the revenue share is very simple and flat 80% [tutor] and 20% [SimplyLearnt]. However, our partnerships, with coaching institutes or content companies, are always on a case-by-case basis. For instance, if we market a product for our partner, we seek a higher revenue share.

Can you let us know about some of the recent tie-ups of SimplyLearnt with the content providers especially coaching classes ?
We have done fairly well in the Engineering and Medical domain with strong partnerships with Sahil Study Circle, Narayana Institute and Quest Tutorials. We are in advanced stage of talks with couple of top nation wide coaching institutes in the domain of MBA test preparation [We will let you know when that deal is closed ]

We have also tied with few star teachers of different domains to launch their content online. For instance, we are launching NTSE preparation courses by Vineesh Kumar [who is a NTSE top ranker].

Do you plan to go into the offline mode where you provide your copyrighted online material through CD’s/DVD’s
Very soon, but the material/content would be not ours – again of our partners.

With low broadband internet penetration in India, how has been the acceptance of SimplyLearnt ?
Well, it has been very promising, our registrations already span more than five thousand users !!!

Can you guide us through a simple process on how a student can use SimplyLearnt for exams like GRE,GMAT etc.
Very Simple – just go to SimplyLearnt homepage and depending on which domain you are interested in – enter into the respective domain [MBA, GMAT/GRE, Engineering, Medical] and buy courses/tests from the respective coaching institutes. If you have a credit card then you can make the purchase online, else, you can buy a coupon code from the respective coaching institute.

According to you, which are some of the outstanding features of SimplyLearnt in comparison to the other services ?
Actually, I do not think a comparable product exists in the market currently. However, since you ask, I would mention some of the salient points of SimplyLearnt -

It is an aggregation platform for educational institutes–none exist in the market so far.
It has features like composite courses and test series–nothing like this exists so far.
All the content [paid/unpaid] on SimplyLearnt can be embedded in any other website– essentially creating a very powerful affiliate experience – again this does not exist in the market.

How are currently marketing SimplyLearnt ?
We would like to believe that we are smart about marketing. As a die-hard Web 2.0 believer, we do not spend a single penny on marketing until we have a clear ROI model. We do get a lot of promotional space via our content partners. For instance, check out this link at SahilStudyCircle – these solutions are present on Sahil’s website using our embeddable document player. This page has been hugely marketed in the print media.You can check out this as well, we get additional users when someone gives the above test on UptuPlus.

So, in a nutshell, we believe that the Web 2.0 treatment of our content, indirect promotion from our existing partners in addition to some social network apps that we intend to build would power the usage of SimplyLearnt. However, we will definitely do paid marketing for courses/test series that would have a clear ROI.

How can a content provider of SimplyLearnt share his/her content with the readers of his blog/website ?
SimplyLearnt has been designed keeping embeddability of all our content in mind. For instance, the courses, tests, test series and even lectures are embeddable. Again, check out the experience here, here and here.

After the drop in economy,the number of students applying for GRE has reduced quite drastically, how are you guys fighting these changing market dynamics ?
Actually, SimplyLearnt is insured in that sense because of our aggregator approach. If GRE goes down, we always have a good scope with GATE or CAT for that matter.

You started your career with Wipro and then studied & worked in US. What made you return back to India ?
Well it was a combination of personal priorities and economic opportunism that brought me back to India.

How is SimplyLearnt currently funded and are you looking out for more funding ?
Well, SimplyLearnt is personally funded currently, I was involved with another venture Building Blocks which has started to yield some results – so that helps. Our goal is to make the business cash flow positive before we look for outside funding – we may be close to that.

What are the key barriers you faced while starting off with SimplyLearnt ?
I do not think that we faced any barriers on starting off SimplyLearnt – I have personally run this kind of business in United States – Rhapsody and Yogita, our development head has an incredible User Interface background from Microsoft , Seattle and Adobe, India. So from a strategy and development standpoint – we have been very sound from the beginning.

Of course, There have been challenges with the partners not forthcoming initially, however, with a clear value proposition for them they have also joined hands.

Recession has come as a blessing in disguise for startups, how has SimplyLearnt capitalized on this ?
Indeed, our hiring has been much smoother and the quality of people joining in has been good.

Your word of advice for people who sitting on the shore and want to start-off ?
Honestly, I do not believe in the idea of sitting on shore – either you are an entrepreneur or you are just doing it to please the gallery. So if you are an entrepreneur, you may not need a push to start and in case if you are not – please do not come, the pressure would be difficult to handle.

In case you have any questions for Tarun Bhalla, kindly leave them in the comments and we would include them in our interview.

Strategy Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Himanshu — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:37:00 +0000

There is a webinar for Entrepreneurs organized by Sramana Mitra, Forbes columnist & author of Entrepreneur Journeys[review here & here] on the following dates:

March 11, 2009
March 25, 2009

Below is the recording of the webinar held on February 18,2009 [quite insightful, especially the discussion on Bay Area Digital] -

"Go GREEN" this February…

Himanshu — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:54:00 +0000

In this tumbling economy, Entrepreneurship and Startups have definitely become the flavor of the season.With more and more newcomers opting to work in startups, an event like Entrepreneurship Week would definitely be an icing on the cake

What is E-Week,09
E-Week is a project initiated by the National Entrepreneurship Network [NEN] with an aim to embrace innovation, engage communities and inspire young people to think big.

As per the E-Week wesbite :

E Week India 2009 will connect young people across the country through a range of activities and programs to harness their potential as innovators and problem-solvers. Industry captains, experts, non-profit leaders, and faculty members will be in attendance in large numbers to encourage, guide, and inspire students to take action. In doing so, students will begin to acquire the knowledge, skills and values required to grow high-potential, sustainable enterprises for a brighter tomorrow.

Theme for E-Week,2009

“Go Green” is the theme for this year’s E-Week.The main attention would be on sustainable development, green business opportunities and innovative solutions to environmental problems.There would be expert panel discussions on alternative forms of energy, competitions to identify and debate on green opportunities, educational movie screenings, exhibitions to showcase ideas etc.

Green Leader of the week
Mohanjit Jolly, executive director at DFJ is the Green Leader of the week.May be he was the ideal choice since, he is really betting big on cleantech in 2009.In his article “Predictions of 2009″, he states that “Cleantech would be most invested sector in 2009“

The event would be celebrated from February,7th to 14th and you can find the complete details here

Proto.in : The startup event …

Himanshu — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:46:00 +0000

Proto[derived from Prototype],the startup event will be held on 23rd & 24th January,2009 in Bangalore.There is a very interesting presentation by Pictualize which gives you an insight into Proto & the benefits of being there for the event !!!

You can register for the event here. If you liked the work by Pictualize,you might be interested in checking out the Q&A we had with Pictualize team[here and here].

Like Proto-4,I won’t be able to attend Proto-5;hopefully the sixth edition is in Hyderabad